Neptune Declaration’s October Indicator reflected something for the industry to smile about
The latest findings from the October’s Neptune Declaration Crew Change Indicator showed a decrease in number of seafarers remaining onboard beyond their contracts; from 8.9 per cent down to 7.9. The percentile of seafarers onboard vessels for over 11 months had also decreased by 0.2 per cent to 1.
Positive progress
Another piece of good news from Neptune Declaration’s October Indicator is the pace of seafarers’ vaccination. It reflected the percentile of inoculated seafarers had increased to 31.1 per cent from 21.9 per cent. Kasper Søgaard, Managing Director and Head of Institutional Strategy and Development from the Global Maritime Forum, commented: “It is encouraging to see the vaccination rate for seafarers going up, and the number of seafarers onboard vessels beyond their contracts durations is decreasing. However, persistent global lockdowns, flight cancellations, and travel restrictions posed continuous challenges to crew change.”
The Indicator nevertheless warned the industry to remain vigilant. “Continued lockdowns, strict crew change requirements, flight cancellations, and high infection rates still pose the same challenges for on- and off-boarding crew. It is an issue the industry grappled with since the start of the pandemic. Shipmanagers continue to report travel bans and restrictions from certain geographies, challenging crew supply. Other issues included the approvals of specific vaccines, plus the fact that both doses were received in different locations,” the report added.
Though the vaccine administering could be quicker, the industry is deeply-aware of what to expect with continual lockdowns and restrictions. Unfortunately to date, the sector only hears the activists’ aggressive campaigning for a change, through concrete actions from the authorities.
Another trend the Indicator noted was closures or remote operations of seafarer academies, which delayed the readying of maritime professionals. That contributed to the manpower crunch. However, labour shortage can be addressed through Crewing Online, Marine Online’s recruitment arm which contains an extensive listing of profiles across a plethora of positions. Employers need not be deprived of trained crew due to the temporary training pauses.
Crewing Online News Team
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